Phil Spector

Harvey Phillip "Phil" Spector (born December 26, 1940) is an American record producer of the 1960s and 1970s. The originator of the "Wall of Sound" production technique, Spector first rose to prominence as one of the inventors of the 1960s girl group sound. Later he worked with varied artists, including The Beatles and The Ramones. In 2003 Spector gained attention when he was indicted for murder.

Phil Spector was born into a lower-middle class Jewish family in the Bronx, New York. In 2003, he would reveal in an interview with the Daily Telegraph journalist Mick Brown that his parents were first cousins. "I don't know, genetically, whether or not that had something to do with what I am or who I became," he said. His father committed suicide because of family indebtedness in 1949, and Spector and his family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1953.

Despite his shyness, Spector became involved in the local music scene. His first band was the Teddy Bears, in which he had songwriting and guitar-playing duties and was one of three vocalists. The Teddy Bears, fronted by lead singer Annette Kleinbard (who later changed her name to ...